Markus Raetz

BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE (RICHELIEU)
5, rue Vivienne
November 8–February 12

Markus Raetz, Silhouette / The Promontory of Noses, 2001, photogravure and aquatint, 11 1/2 x 9”.

This retrospective of Markus Raetz’s output celebrates the artist’s printed works, which, since the 1970s, have made use of eclectic themes and forms. The show’s curators, Farideh Cadot and Marie-Cécile Miessner, have successfully organized the diverse printing techniques used by the artist (photogravure, chiseling, etching, aquatint, wood engraving, and drypoint). Their selection of drawings, sketchbooks, and ten sculptures includes two hundred pieces, mostly from the Bibliothèque’s collections.

The point of view of both the artist and the viewer is key to understanding the art in this exhibition. Indeed, the viewer is constantly engaged, as if it were his or her perception that created the final form of each piece. At the same time, the works’ relationship to reality is called into question. As the visitor moves around some of the pieces, etched inanimate faces vibrate and become multidimensional, as in Kopfspirale (Head Coil), 1974. A simple sheet of zinc folded in half becomes a seascape in Zeemansblick, 1987, and a YES becomes a NO in Crossing, 2002. The imagination is titillated by numerous visual riddles that bring to mind Leonardo da Vinci or Bruce Nauman, or even the paranoid delirium of Salvador Dalí (as in Impressions d’Afrique (Impressions of Africa), 1980, and Silhouette / The Promontory of Noses, 2001).

Paradoxically, both the playfulness and the apparent simplicity of these works are the result of technical mastery and constant experimentation. The range of lighting effects with which the artist plays so freely is particularly striking: The prints come to life, much to our delight.

Translated from French by Jane Brodie.

— Julie Jones

Jesper Just

MUSÉE D'ART CONTEMPORAIN DU VAL-DE-MARNE (MAC/VAL)
Place de la Libération, Boîte postale 147
October 22–February 5

Jesper Just, This Nameless Spectacle, 2011, still from a color film in Super 16 mm, 13 minutes.

It is a risky move for an artist to build his or her work on a series of references. Yet the output of the Danish-born, New York–based artist Jesper Just, which consists of countless allusions to film history, is a veritable tour de force. For his first monographic exhibition in France, he presents six videos, including This Nameless Spectacle, 2011, which was commissioned in part by the Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne. With highly effective staging, this piece is a tribute to the panoramic shot: Two long screens face off, each showing different points of view of the same scene, an actress roaming through the Parisian neighborhood Buttes Chaumont. The success of this video is partially due to Just’s ongoing collaboration with an expert technical team including cinematographer Kasper Tuxen, sound engineer Jakob Garfield, and composer (and singer) Dorit Chrysler.

After encountering This Nameless Spectacle, visitors make their way in almost total darkness to arrive at five separate projection rooms. Here they view Sirens of Chrome, 2010; A Voyage in Dwelling, 2008; A Vicious Undertow, 2007; the It Will All End in Tears trilogy, 2006; and The Lonely Villa, 2004. These non-narrative “stories,” which rarely last more than ten minutes, are shot mostly on Super 16–mm film. They have no beginning or end, and thus they undermine our expectations of the medium. We see the characters communicating with one another through tragicomic renditions of pop songs with hypnotic refrains by bands such as the Ink Spots and the Clash. One may also notice references to Alfred Hitchcock, Sergio Leone, Alain Resnais, and Quentin Tarantino spread throughout the works, as well as dramatic lighting effects. Here the artist guides the viewer from one reference to the next, romantically paying homage to filmic masterpieces while eschewing clichés in a work that is both original and personal.

Translated from French by Jane Brodie.

— Julie Jones